26 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
Even the principal towns are extremely wretched both 
in appearance and as dwellings, while it may be 
safely said that the sites upon which they have been 
erected are in every respect the worst that could have 
been chosen. 
St, Christoval de Laguna is called the capital of the 
island, but why this distinction is conferred, it is 
difficult to say, unless from the circumstance of the 
governor having a mansion at that place, although he 
resides at Santa Cruz, which latter is certainly the 
more important town, both on account of its harbour 
for shipping, and for its comparative wealth and 
extent. It has, however, a most desolate and forbid- 
ding aspect, being a collection of some hundreds of 
houses most flimsily constructed, and, from their 
dazzling whiteness, having the appearance of a paper 
town, spread along the flat and narrow beach, and 
overtopped by black furrowed cliffs, without a single 
leaf of vegetation or a trace of anything green to 
relieve the eye from the intolerable glitter of the 
white-wash. Nor does the place possess one single 
edifice of importance ; the churches are tawdry and 
badly built, as also are the government house and 
public offices; the jetty is in sad disrepair, and quite 
insufficient for its purpose, but it is terminated by a 
well-built and handsome mole, which serves the double 
purpose of a jetty-head, protecting the harbour from 
the continual south-east swell, and being, moreover. 
